Rustic Moroccan Loaves Recipes

EFFORTLESS RUSTIC BREAD

Steps:

• Mix water, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl until mixture becomes foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir flour into yeast mixture until well incorporated. The dough will be loose and look wet. Cover bowl loosely with a damp towel and let sit for about 5 hours.
• Shape dough into 2 loaves using damp hands. Place loaves on a cornmeal-dusted work surface and score the tops a few times with a sharp knife. Allow loaves to double in size, 30 to 60 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place loaves on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven, spraying the surface of the dough occasionally with water, until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

RUSTIC MOROCCAN LOAVES

Steps:

• Combine the warm water, agave nectar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (not bread hook). Use a wooden spoon or whisk to mix well. Make sure the yeast is completely dissolved.
• Whisk together the flour mix, xanthan gum, and salt. Add to the yeast mixture in two batches, mixing on medium speed, until the dough is fully combined, about 1 minute.
• Dust a baking sheet liberally with flour mix, flour your hands, and divide the dough into two balls. Place the balls on the baking sheet and shape them into two 5-inch dome-shaped loaves.
• Brush the tops with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil using a pastry brush. Cover with a light dish towel or plastic wrap (but don't wrap it tightly, or you'll inhibit the rise) and let rise in a warm place (85°F) free from drafts. I like to place it in an unheated oven with a pan of hot water placed on the bottom of the oven. If it's a warm day, this won't be necessary. The top of the fridge is good, too. Let rise for 1 hour, or until you can push a finger in to one knuckle deep and the indent remains.
• In the last 20 minutes of your rise, preheat the oven to 350°F. (Remove the bread and pan of water if the loaves are rising in the oven and let them finish their rise somewhere else.)
• Uncover the loaves and use a sharp knife to cut a 1/2-inch deep cross in the top of each loaf. Brush the loaves with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the tops of the loaves with water. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes longer, or until the bread sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom. It will not brown, so don't use that as your judge. Let cool slightly on cooling racks. Break apart or slice with a serrated knife.

RUSTIC FRENCH MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 475°F with rack in middle.
• Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl.
• Cook onion, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in oil in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly.
• Purée livers in a blender, then transfer to a large bowl. Add pork, veal, prunes, pistachios, thyme, eggs, bread-crumb mixture, onion mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and gently mix with your hands until just combined.
• Transfer meatloaf mixture to an 81/2- by 41/2-inch glass loaf pan (see cooks' note, below) and bake, covered with foil, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 165°F, 50 to 55 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes. Cover top of meatloaf with parsley before slicing.
• Serve with:
• buttered boiled potatoes

MOROCCAN-INSPIRED MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and ginger; cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, paprika, cumin, curry powder, cayenne, cinnamon, and black pepper and cook to release flavors, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Combine the lamb and beef in a large bowl. Add cooled vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Mix in bread crumbs, cilantro, eggs, and mint.
• Transfer meatloaf mixture to a 1 1/2-quart loaf pan and set in a baking pan. Pour water in the baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm and cooked through, about 1 1/2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the BBQ sauce, if using. Combine ketchup, onion, molasses, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat; bring to a simmer. Cook until flavors blend, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
• Unmold meatloaf onto a large plate. Slice and serve with the sauce.

ROUND MOROCCAN LOAVES

Steps:

• Dissolve sugar in water; Sprinkle in yeast and let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.
• Stir yeast mixture and pour into large bowl; beat in whole wheat flour, oil, aniseed, salt and sesame seeds. Beat in 2 cups (500 mL) of the all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup (125 mL) at a time. With wooden spoon, gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make stfff dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
• Transfer dough to lightly greased bowl, turning to grease all over. Cover with tea towel and let rise for about 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and divide in half; form each half into ball. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes if dough is too elastic to roll.
• On floured surface, roll out each half into rounds about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Sprinkle 2 baking sheets with cornmeal and place one round on each. Cover with tea towel and let rise for 45 to 60 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Prick rounds with fork in 4 spots around edge. Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325°F (160°C) and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottoms. Let cool on racks.

RUSTIC KIBBLED WHEAT & RYE LOAVES

Steps:

• Put the water, milk & yeast into a small container & mix. Leave for 10 minutes.
• Put the oil, salt, brown sugar, biga & flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast/water mixture and stir with a wooden spoon for 1 minute.
• Using a mixer with a dough hook (I have hand mixer with two dough hooks), mix for 8-10 minutes. The dough will be very sticky & is not suitable for kneading by hand (I thought about it but don't be silly like me!).
• Cover & leave in a warm place until nearly doubled (this took me about 1 & 1/2 hours).
• Scrape out of the bowl onto a very well floured bench & gently split into 3 equal portions (I used a very sharp knife). Gently fold into loose rounds & leave to rest for about 1 hour. You need to be gentle as you don't want to knock the air out of the mixture.
• Gently shape into the form you want, being careful not to knock the air out of the dough. I gently stretched two of these into slipper shapes, and cut the other into 6 rolls, and rested each of the three portions on separate pieces of parchment paper. Being careful, put small dimples on the tops of the loaves & leave until doubled (about 1 & 1/2 hours for me).
• Just after doing this heat your oven & baking stone to 240 degrees Celsius.
• Once the loaves have doubled, bake as many as your stone can handle (mine was one portion at a time) for 5 minutes on 240 degrees Celsius. Lower the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius & bake until the base sounds hollow when tapped (about 30 minutes in total for a loaf, 20-25 minutes for the rolls).
• To get a nice crust spray the oven (taking care not to get the bread in the process) with water once or twice during baking.
• Once cooled these loaves freeze easily - I normally put them into a freezer bag with a twist tie & pop them in the fast freeze section of my freezer. I then let them defrost on the bench, or if you make rolls you can let them defrost & pop them into the oven on 200 degrees to warm them through.
• For Vegan use only the water.